Christmas Eve: The Light Shines in the Darkness - Christmas

Hey, I'm Steve Holt, the senior pastor of The Road at Chapel Hills.

This is the Road Podcast.

Thanks for joining us.

My heart is to empower you to change the world.

I hope this message impacts you.

If you have your Bibles, turn to Luke chapter 2 and uh Charlie Brown Christmas.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

How many remember Charlie Brown Christmas?

We showed that to our grandchildren a few about a week ago, and we had a joyful time watching it.

And it was actually a copy from the 70s, okay?

So kind of interesting to catch all the commercials in between from this 70s broadcast that we found on YouTube.

I guess somebody just put it up there.

And this is the passage that Charles Schultz chose in that famous uh Charlie Brown Christmas.

It was a Luke chapter two passage we're going to look at.

And um, it was kind of interesting watching these commercials, though.

I mean, cigarette commercials and stuff, you know.

No pharmaceuticals.

There were no pharmaceutical commercials at that time.

Um actually, at that time, it was illegal to do pharmaceutical commercials, but it was legal to do cigarette commercials.

So how the times have changed, right?

But um what I love about Luke chapter 2 is because we've been dancing around this passage for the last four weeks.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

You'll notice the advent wreath.

How many of you grew up with an advent wreath, maybe in your family?

Okay, a lot of you, like me.

So I grew up with always having an advent wreath.

We made them every year.

So mom had this wire circular thing that had the place where the candles could go, and then it was our job with her.

We went out and got the vines and everything, and sometimes it had no leaves on it, sometimes it was all cedar, and sometimes it was all pine of different things every year.

I don't know how we did it year after year with two boys, and we didn't start any fires.

But the advent wreath represents the four weeks leading up to Advent, which you guys know that are rogue family people.

And then the center one we lit for today because it's Christmas Eve.

So that's called the Christmas candle.

So we've been talking all about, we've been talking about the prophecies of Jesus, we've been talking about the shepherds, we've been talking about angels, and then last week we talked about kings and kingdoms.

So I've been dancing around Luke chapter 2, verses 1 through 7.

Luke 2:1–7

So that's where I want to go.

I save that one always for Christmas Eve.

It's the one that's probably the most famous.

Matthew 2 and Luke 2 are the two seminal passages of the New Testament that describe the birth of Christ.

Luke 2 will cover today because of what I want to share about.

And here's kind of my thesis for the message here this afternoon is that in the darkest of times the light shines the brightest.

In the darkest of times, the light shines the brightest.

And that God shines his light in the darkness always.

But at that first Christmas, it was significant because of the prophecies leading up to the birth of Christ.

Let's look at verse 1.

Now it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus.

So, just so you guys know, a little bit of history here, is this is the first Caesar.

Caesar's the first emperor of Rome.

He was a ruthless leader.

He had an iron grip over all the provinces of Rome, but he was actually a very effective administrator.

So he was key to what we call the Romana, the Paxis Romana, the idea of the peace of Rome.

And so he brought peace to all the provinces, but he was also pretty aware of how to control all the provinces.

And this was one of the ways he chose to do that.

It came to pass in those two days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

Now here's what's interesting, and this is how history worked, is that if you were growing up at that time, you would have known who Caesar Augustus was because his imprint was on all the coins that you used in your daily trade and stuff.

So he's famous.

Everybody knew about Caesar Augustus.

Everybody in this particular area of Syria would have known who the governor is.

But today, these guys are only footnotes in history because of a baby that got born in a barn in a field that nobody knew anything about.

Isn't it interesting that their movements, the movements of Rum, it went.

It's passed.

Nobody even knows who Corinius was except when they read the Jesus story.

Nobody even knows who it is.

But everybody in the world knows about Jesus.

I mean, most of the world, 99% of the world knows about Jesus today because of the movement that began on this particular day that we're celebrating here, along with four billion people across the globe that are having Christmas Eve services and are celebrating and worshiping Jesus together.

That's pretty cool, right?

Just to give a little perspective.

The light shines in the darkness.

So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea.

So Nazareth was a poor town.

Joseph's poor, Mary's poor.

85% of the Roman provinces were made up of people who were under the poverty line.

So they controlled a poverty-stricken populace.

Joseph's one of them.

He comes from Nazareth.

Nazareth at that time was about 25 families, we believe.

So he came out of the city of Nez, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem.

And you know that the prophecy in Micah 2, Micah 5, 2 about Bethlehem is called Bethlehem Eprapha.

That's what the prophecy said.

And that's because there were two Bethlehems at that time.

This is Bethlehem Eprapha.

That's how accurate the 462 prophecies are in the Old Testament, between 1500 and 500 years before the birth of Christ, predicting the Messiah to come.

Joseph went up from Judea out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem Eprapha, because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with Chaka.

So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son.

And she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end.

I mean, historically, these were dark times for anybody who was a Jew, anybody who was in Israel.

Here's what's interesting.

And you don't need to turn there, but I want you to look up on the screen.

Galatians 4, 4.

So when Paul is writing about the birth of Christ, this is how he describes it.

When the fullness of the time had come.

In other words, when everything had come together, it was the perfect timing politically, economically, spiritually.

Things came together.

God sent forth his son, born of a woman, and born under the law.

So we could argue, and this is my argument today, is that the fullness of time, as it was meant in Scripture, was the darkest of time.

It was a dark time in Israel.

It was a dark time for Joseph and Mary.

It was a dark time in Galilee.

It was a dark time in Nazareth.

It was a dark time, quite frankly, all over the whole Mediterranean area where Rome controlled everything.

Dark times.

The Romans had ruled with an iron fist for over 100 years.

Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor, was a de facto dictator who ruled with ruthless effectiveness.

Augustus Caesar maintained autocratic authority by having the Senate grant him lifetime tenure as supreme military commander, tribune, and censor over all of the Roman provinces.

There was no voting.

Taxes could be levied at any time.

They registered people to control the people.

Sound familiar?

So they registered, they wanted to know where everybody lived.

They wanted to know who your family line was, and that's why they did mainly the registration and taxes.

One writer speaking of these times writes, poverty was commonplace, and the constant threat of famine and drought had taken its toll even on the food supply.

Joseph and Mary are poor.

It was a 70-mile trek from the area where they were in Nazareth down to Bethlehem.

It would have taken them, we believe, about two weeks with his pregnant wife.

But these are called the fullness of times.

Why do I say that?

I think that's important.

Because I believe we're in the fullness of times right now in 2021.

These are the darkest of times in many ways.

Are they going to get darker?

Probably.

But they're the darkest of times in 2021, leading into 2022, because God wants to bring a mighty move of His Spirit.

His light shines brightest in the darkest of times.

Domestically, inflation is soaring with the greatest rise in over 30 years.

Gas prices have doubled and in some cases tripled.

Food supply chains have diminished.

Despite the abundance of available jobs out there, 10 million at last count, still businesses can't seem to find people to hire.

With the exception of big pharma and big tech and big media, most businesses have still not received or have not recovered from the shutdown.

40% of small businesses went down under the shutdown, most of them minority-owned.

Under the auspices of state and federal government and Dr.

Anthony Fauci, business closures have pulverized America's middle class and engineered the largest transfer of wealth in human history.

In 2020, workers lost$3.7 trillion, while billionaires gained$3.9 trillion.

Some 490 individuals became new billionaires, and an additional 8 million Americans dropped below the poverty line.

The biggest winners were the robber barons of big technology, big data, big telecom, big finance, big media, and Silicon Valley.

Racial tensions have divided us.

Vax mandates have divided us.

Under Anthony Fauci, with his expansion of pharmaceutical and chemical paradigms since 1984 as the chief of the NIAID, according to the Commonwealth Fund, the U.S.

has gone from the most healthy nation in the world to the least healthy among industrialized nations.

We have now the highest infant mortality rate and the lowest life expectancy in the industrialized world.

And I've got a whole list of other things I won't bore you with.

Since Roe v.

Wade in 1973, an estimated 62 million abortions have taken place in the U.S.

But like that first Christmas, men and women, the deepest problems we face are not political, even economic, or even educational.

They're spiritual.

And so Isaiah, in making the great prophecy of the coming of Christ, said this.

Isaiah 9, 2.

The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.

God does his greatest work in the darkest of times.

Let not your heart be troubled.

God is on the move.

It's the fullness of time.

Jesus came that Christmas in the fullness of time, and Jesus comes this Christmas in the fullness of time.

John Wesley, the great English evangelist, having arrived in Newcastle, wrote in his journal in 1742, quote, I walked into the town.

I was surprised.

So much debauchery, so much drunkenness, cursing and swearing.

Surely this place is ripe for Christ to come.

Ripe for revival.

Christ comes into the darkness.

He shines his light in the darkness.

He is the light.

On that first Christmas and on this 22,021st Christmas, Christ has come.

The light has come into the darkness.

And this is what he said about himself.

I am the light of the world.

He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.

John said, this is the message which we've heard from him and declare to you that God is light, and in him there's no darkness at all.

John continues, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

You see, you walked into a building.

You didn't walk into a church.

You walked into a building full of the church.

This is the church.

You're the church.

And when we come together, our lights shine together.

The cleansing blood of Christ comes over us and it strengthens us to be a kingdom of God revolution.

That's what's happening all over the world today.

The press won't tell you that.

The media won't tell you that.

And the government's afraid of it.

Because God's moving with his light and it always pushes back darkness.

So the only way to deal with light is you've got to somehow snuff it out.

You've got to somehow suffocate it.

But it's only getting stronger.

God's spirit is moving since that first Christmas.

He's moving today.

He's moving in anointing.

He's moving in power, and he's moving through you and me.

Christ left the earth and he sent forth his Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

When we get filled with the Holy Spirit, we get filled with power.

When we get filled with the Holy Spirit, we get filled with perspective.

When we get filled with the Holy Spirit, we get filled with peace.

And when righteousness, peace, and joy break out, the enemy can't do anything about it.

America needs a kingdom of God.

Revolution.

Jesus began his ministry by saying, I am the light of the world.

He who follows me shall not walk in darkness.

But then what's interesting is at the conclusion of Jesus' ministry, some 33 years later, he said this, You are the light of the world.

A city that is sat on a hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Men and women, you're the light.

You and I are the light.

We bring, we're a city on a hill.

This church building right here is on a hill.

It looks out over a hill.

And you can see the city from here.

You can see all the way to the Garden of the Gods.

I've been up on the roof and prayed on this roof so many times.

We've had so many prayer meetings on the roof of this building.

It's just incredible.

We are a light.

And every church that believes in Jesus and loves him is a light.

And when we bring that light, the darkness dissipates just as it did with Jesus.

Because we have Jesus living within us.

And that light shines through us.

We're filled with the Holy Spirit.

Fear not.

Walk encouraged.

Be confident in Christ.

In Him, we can change the world.

In Him, we can make a difference.

In Him, God can change our families.

In Him, God can change our children.

In Him, God can change our marriage.

In Him, nothing is impossible through Christ.

El Paso County is right for a Kingdom of God revolution, and I believe it's happening.

I just talked to a young gal that came after the second service.

She came up and said, Man, what you said so inspired me because that's exactly what happened to me.

And I said, What?

She said, I was coming back from California after visiting my family.

And when I came in to the border of Colorado, I could feel the presence of God.

God's presence is over Colorado.

God's presence is over Colorado Springs.

God's presence is here.

It doesn't matter who the governor is, God's moving.

He's moving in power in a supernatural way.

And we get to be a part of that.

It's really cool to be a part of what God's doing through other believers.

So you guys look, we all we all bring our light in different ways.

Many of us are never going to run for office or something like that.

But we've got a job to do.

God's called us something.

And the first thing is our own family and our own marriage.

That's the most important thing we do is keeping our family together, working on that, and loving our spouse and being Jesus at home.

And for all these moms out there, I know what goes on.

I married my mom here, my Liz, and she right, I mean, she just beautifully discipled our seven kids.

And sometimes we don't say enough about that.

All you moms here, I want you to stand up.

I want moms to stand up.

Everybody's a mom.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Dad.

Stand up.

Stand up, dad.

And what we learn in life is that whether you're a mom or your dad, whether you're not a mom or dad, but you're a you're a single adult and you're making an impact where you're at, the closer we walk with Christ, the more the light of Christ shines through us.

And the more the light of Christ shines in us, the more the darkness gets pushed back.

That's at the bottom line.

And that's what this is about.

That's what Christmas Eve is about.

That's what this worship service is about.

Is that that light that came some 2,000 years ago and shined on some shepherds and was brought forth with angels, and then about a month or two later came forth with some magi, is the light of the world.

But now, church, you're the light of the world.

And it's our responsibility to be a light in El Paso County.

It's our responsibility to be a light and color of springs.

And it starts in your own home.

So I pray, this Christmas, you guys are going to have an awesome time together.

That all the family, when you guys are together and you're praying together, and you're hopefully you'll why don't you read, let me just challenge you to read the Christmas story first thing in the morning before you open up any present.

And and then share.

Take some time to just share what each other, what you mean to each other.

Take a moment and say, I appreciate this about you, and just kind of go around with the whole family.

But that light is in you.

You're now the light of the world.

That's the message of Christmas.

He came to be a light.

Now that light is in you.

Now bring that light to the rest of the world.

Now, some of us are hurting.

You're not smiling right now.

You may be on the outside, but you're not on the inside.

And you've gone through a horrendous year.

Maybe health-wise.

Maybe maritally, relationally.

I don't know.

But this can be a really, really lonely time.

And I want to extend to you the invitation that will you let the light in in a new way this Christmas Eve.

Before we close tonight, that you would take the light and invite that light into your life.

You may know Christ.

You may have a personal relationship with Jesus.

And you may not.

But why not give it the risk to take forth Christ into your heart and see what he can do?

See what he can do in 22.

See what he can do in 22 to make the impossible possible through the power of the Holy Spirit.

That's up to us and that choice we make to let him in.

And that's what this is all about.

That's why I signed up when I was 18.

I like to go with a winner.

That's why I went to the University of Georgia.

And I always felt confident that in Christ all things were possible.

But you may not feel that way.

You may have been in some really hurtful situations in churches and by pastors.

I don't know.

But join the club if you have.

Half.

It's even happened to me.

But will you surrender to Christ and give it all to Him and let what is impossible become a miracle through the power of the light that shines in the darkness.

It's been my joy to be a part of your life today.

And you know, that's part of what we do here at The Road, and this is what I do in having this Road Podcast is to empower people to change their world.

My passion and desire is that you would take God's word through the power of the Holy Spirit and make that relevant for your life.

You know, the reality is that God has placed your life here on this earth to make a difference.

And if you'd like more information about how to grow in Christ, if you need prayer, if you want more equipping in different areas of your life, go to the road.org.

God bless you.